


Viennese Waltz and Locked Doors

by pixelk1



Series: The Guardians Dance Studio [3]
Category: Frozen - Fandom, Hotel Transylvania (2012), Rise of the Guardians (2012), tangled - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:03:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2644313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixelk1/pseuds/pixelk1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a dance competition goes badly, Jack and Elsa's relationship is tested while the pair deals with sick friends, moody siblings and grueling school work. [Part three of the Guardians Dance Studio series.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Elsa closed the refrigerator door to see Anna leaning against the kitchen counter.

“You alright?” Elsa asked.

Anna sighed glumly, “I got dumped.”

Elsa placed the carton of milk on the counter beside Anna and pulled a glass from the cupboard. She wasn’t surprised. “I didn’t know you where dating anyone. Or was this by your ballet class guy or your jazz class guy?”

Anna placed her face on the counter and poked the carton of milk, “Jazz class guy. Ballet class guy already dumped me.”

“Well then I’m sure you’ll get over it.” Elsa said, patting her sister on the head and pouring her glass of milk. “Are you coming to Jack’s party tomorrow?”

“Jazz class guy will be there.”

Elsa snorted, “Then by all means, stay home in the dark.”

“But you can’t just leave me! You’re my caretaker!” She protested.

“You’re sixteen. You can take care of yourself.”

Anna nodded and sighed. “I have ballet soon.”

Elsa shooed her away with her hand, “Go then. I’ll catch up. I have to drop by the costume store.”

She finished her milk and ran upstairs to grab her shoes for ballroom dancing. Elsa may have been a political science major at the university the next town over but dancing was still her first true love.

She hurried to the car, checking her watch to make sure she would have time to pick up her costume and then headed downtown. On Thursdays she had rehearsals at the dance studio and she had a competition coming up so she needed to pick up her new costume. She would also be meeting her boyfriend/partner at the costume store.

Mode Fashion was a tiny hole-in-the-wall store run by an ancient lady named Edna. Supposedly Edna had once been a famous designer that had retired to their small American town because she had become obsessed with the idea of the “American Dream.” The designer had gone crazy some time ago and believed in superheroes so fiercely that Elsa believed all of the rumours about how batty she was.

Elsa pulled up front and parked her car. A tiny bell rung as she entered the store and Edna poked her head around a corner. She peered at Elsa quizzically through her gigantic black glasses, black hair streaked with grey.

“Hello Edna, I’m here for my waltz ball gown?”

Edna smiled and teetered towards her, “Yes yes, come in dahling.” She drawled in her mismatched Japanese-German accent. “I have it right here _somewhere.”_ Elsa followed Edna to the backroom where she kept her custom-made designs and rifled through a rack of clothing, carefully packed into clear plastic dry-cleaning bags.

The dress itself was a long and blue gown with a slit on one side and sparkles across the top. Elsa frowned at the back.

“I thought we agreed on a cape?”

Edna went from blissfully crazy to serious in half a second, “No capes. You trip and break your neck.” She snapped, jabbing a finger at Elsa.

“Err. Alright.” Elsa said in a small voice.

Edna smiled at her, the previous anger instantly dissipating. “As for your handsome partner, here is his. Brown pants and a blue top. Very nice.”

Elsa accepted the costumes and turned as the door chime rang. Jack stood in the doorway and nodded at her. “Hey Ice Queen.”

Elsa smiled back, “Hey Frost. The costumes look great.”

He lopped over to where she stood and plucked the bag off the stack in her arms, holding it up to full length. “I like it, very fun.”

“We should be getting over to the studio now.” Elsa turned to nod at Edna. “Thanks for everything, send the bill along later.”

Edna smiled and sat back at her drawing board. “Have a good day dahling. Say hello to that sexy ballet teacher North for me!”

Jack stifled a laugh behind his hand and Elsa nodded, supressing a smile. “Of course.”

When they were both comfortably seated in Elsa’s car Jack burst out laughing. “Is it just me or is she getting crazier?”

“I don’t know. Last time I went there to get Anna’s costume she was raving on about the Parr family being a whole team of superheroes. I know Dash is hyper because I’ve babysat him and his siblings but super-speed? I don’t know about that.”

She pulled the car up in-front of the studio and they climbed the stairs, arms laden with costumes. “Well his older sister does seem to blend into the background a bit.” Jack said.

Elsa rolled her eyes, “Don’t be mean Jack. She’s just shy.”

“I was just joking.” He defended as they reached the landing.

“Whatever. I’ll meet you in the studio room. We still have five minutes so we should try these on.”

Jack leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips, “I look forward to it.” He said with a wink.

Elsa pulled the dress over her thin pale frame. The slit up the side was sexier than she had expected, something Jack would appreciate no doubt. She focused on her face in the mirror of the change room. The originally planned braid-bun didn’t match the feel of the dress and she frowned at her reflection, reaching behind her head to tug it loose of its elastics. The braid fell over her back and she flipped it over her shoulder, her bangs fell loose and wavy over her brow. That was better.

Jack did appreciate it. The teachers and he even broke into applause when Elsa walked into the studio. Tatyana or “Toothiana” made up one half of the ballroom dancing coaches. She was nicknamed that for her strange but incredibly wide white smile. She had tan skin and multi-coloured hair. She also had a tendency to flit about in a very bird-like fashion.

The other half was her short but eccentric husband Sandy. Sandy’s real name was unknown but everyone called him that because of his sandy blonde hair. Supposedly he had stopped speaking when he was a child but no-one knew why and communicated through Tatyana in American Sign Language. He took the moment to give Elsa an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“I think that we ought to start you off from the very beginning of the dance. The competition is in only three days you know!” Tatyana said, picking at Elsa’s hair and costume.

Elsa absent mindedly flicked her away and moved to the middle of the floor, extending a hand to Jack. “Are you ready?” She asked.

Jack gave her a devilish look and took her hand, pulling her close. “You know it, Ice queen.”


	2. Chapter 2

The party started off really well. Jack was known for throwing the best parties. The best beer, the best music, the best time in town. That was his motto. He had a party every Friday, never once missing a day. His girlfriend Elsa always helped him set up. They would lay out snacks and stock the fridge. Jack was still technically underage but he was a college student so getting beer wasn’t exactly difficult. He didn’t even have to worry about his parents anymore. He had moved out only a few weeks before and his housemates where great.

They lived in a huge Victorian that stood at least four floors high. Honestly it was hard to tell because it had undergone some weird renovations and expansions over the years. Jack and Elsa didn’t technically live together since Elsa was the caretaker for her little sister but they basically had their own apartment at the very farthest upper-est part of the house. Due to the houses long winding hallways and tiny staircases Jack had such a huge space because he was the only one of the bunch who cared to climb and walk that far to their room every day.

At that moment Jack was in the living room, however, helping two of his friends move their new speaker system. “A little to the left, Shang. Yeah there. Perfect, thanks.”

Shang wiped his brow and leaned on the huge stereo. “Are you sure we really need this?”

“Of course we need it big guy. Look at it. It’s great!”

Shang grumbled and wandered off to find his girlfriend. Another guy, Flynn entered through the living room and gave Jack a thumbs up. “I think people are going to start arriving soon.”

Jack nodded and queued up a song on his iPod. “Great. Have you seen Elsa and Anna around?”

Flynn shrugged and exited to the hallway that lead to the kitchen. Jack set his iPod down and wandered off through another hallway, passing some kids from the Dance Studio. Another great thing about Jack’s parties was that everyone came. Elsa’s friends, Anna’s friends, friends of his housemates, college friends. All sorts of people from all walks of life filtered through that door. Nothing could tear him down now.

Eventually he saw Elsa haul some shopping bags through the door and he hooked a finger through one of her jean’s belt loops. “Hey, where’ve you been?”

Elsa raised a shopping bag. “Some of Anna’s friends are going sober. I got them soda.”

“That’s so sweet, lemme carry a bag to the kitchen with you.”

She handed him a bag and they squeezed their way down the hall, calling hello’s to people left and right. The kitchen was already gathering a fairly large crowed. He recognized Shang with his girlfriend Mulan, they were a ballroom couple as well. A fiery red-headed girl named Merida was there too as well as two more of his room-mates. He nodded at them all and began unpacking the soda.

“Where’s Anna anyway?” He asked.

“I don’t think she’s coming today actually. Something came up.”

At that moment the doorbell rang and Jack jumped to his feet. “I’ll get it,” he tossed behind his shoulder. He opened the door and found a blonde girl, slumped over and breathing heavily. She collapsed into his arms the second the door was wide enough.

“Are you okay?” He stammered.

“I feel dizzy.” She replied.

A girl with black hair ran up the steps after her, “I’m so sorry. We came for the party and she said she felt really sick and I didn’t know what to do.”

Elsa appeared behind Jack, “Mavis? Rapunzel? What’s going on?”

Mavis choked back tears, “She’s really sick.”

“We have to take her to a hospital.” Jack declared. “Help me get her to the car.”

Mavis rung her hands, “Let me. I can pull the car up front.” She said, dashing off down the street.

Rapunzel tried to stand, supporting more weight on her legs and collapsed into Jack and Elsa again.

Elsa soothed her by rubbing small circles on her back and they settled down on the front porch to wait. When Mavis had the car out front they helped Rapunzel over calmly and she propped her head up in the backseat. Jack took the driver’s seat from Mavis who rode shot-gun, half turned to whisper words of encouragement to Rapunzel. Elsa stuck her head into the car window, “I’ll stay here and look after the party. If you end up staying at the hospital with Mavis then that’s fine. I’ll call Rapunzel’s parents and let them know what happened.”

Jack nodded and they sped away. He focused on the road and they drove in silence aside from Mavis’s quite muttering to Rapunzel. When they reached the hospital the nurse behind the counter bumped them to the front of the line and rushed her into the emergency room right away. Mavis and Jack ended up sitting in the waiting room for some time before someone called them back to see her. Rapunzel sat up in bed, her eyes glazed over and her arms where plastered with tubes feeding into various machines.

She managed a weak smile and Mavis began to cry softly. “What’s going on? Do you know yet?”

Rapunzel shook her head ever so slightly and croaked an “it’s going to be okay” through chapped lips.

Jack stepped back into the hallway to give them space and sighed. A man and woman with brown hair hurried down the hallway, flanked by a nurse and stopped near Jack.

“Are you the person who brought our ‘Punze in?” The man asked.

Jack nodded. “She’s inside. Are you her parents?”

The woman pushed past and hurried into the room. The man nodded and extended a hand. “Yes, we are. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“It was no problem. I think I’ll head home now but please, let me know how she is.”

“Of course. Thank you.” And with that he turned to enter the hospital room. Jack stood there, staring at the window, watching the three of them gathered around her bed. He sighed and started off down the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to be real here and let you guys know that Rapunzel's illness does come back in later fics and its going to be fairly significant in part four of the AU. Also I plan my writing ahead too much.


	3. Chapter 3

Elsa smiled into her coffee slightly, aware of Jack’s hand resting lightly on the small of her back. “Hey”, she mumbled.

He burrowed into the soft blonde hair on the nape of her neck and sighed. “Rapunzel is going to be okay. They’re running tests this morning.”

“Good, I hope Anna takes the news okay.” Elsa said, blowing steam off of her coffee.

Jack went around the kitchen island and poured himself a cup of the dark brew, “Do you think it serious?”

Elsa frowned and tapped her foot on her stool, “I’m not sure. You said they rushed her right into the ER?”

Jack nodded and leaned across the table. His platinum blonde hair stuck up in weird angles but his usually playful eyes seemed serious and dark.

“Well, I’d say it sounds serious but we won’t hear any news for another few days at least. We need focus on the competition.” Elsa insisted.

Jack sipped his coffee, “Pre-competition bowling tomorrow right?”

“Well of course,” she said with a warm smile, “I’m warning you though, I’ve been practising.”

Jack leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek, “I’m the snowball fight champion though.”

Elsa frowned and cocked her head to one side, “What does bowling have to do with snowball fights? You don’t throw bowling balls at people!”

“Yeah but the aiming is similar.”

Elsa giggled and shook her head at her crazy boyfriend. Jack just grinned.

 

The sounds of the competition rang around her and Elsa took a deep breath. She looked absolutely breathtaking in her gown, somehow better than how she looked in the dress rehearsal back at the studio. In mere seconds she would have to glide out onto the stage, perfectly poised, every inch of her body in control.

Elsa had always been a wild card when it came to her dancing. It had taken her almost two years longer to reach competition level than other kids in her age group. Then she had met Jack and he had taken her breath away. (Literally because they met when Jack had knocked her out with a miss-aimed snowball to the head.) His dancing style was almost as wild as hers but more fun, not as scared.

The judge announced her call to the floor and for a second she thought she might lose her cool but then she saw Jack standing in the middle of the floor. His eyes sparkled and he gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back and the music began. The Viennese Waltz they had practised for weeks flowed through her body like her life blood. Her movements where silk that wanted to fly away, only reined in by Jacks arms around her. As they moved on to the final kick Elsa felt herself soar away and then fall.

Somewhere along the way Jack had slipped and Elsa, not being prepared, came crashing to the floor. The world rang around her but Jack stepped over her and pulled her up. They managed to make the final turn and pose before Elsa collapsed into Jack’s arms. “Are you alright?” he asked, eyeing her with concern.

Elsa nodded and tried to stand. Pain shot up her leg and she cried out softly. Jack looped an arm over her shoulder and supported her as she hobbled over to the side of the floor. A paramedic met her at the edge and offered her a chair.

“It’s my ankle,” she told no one in particular.

The paramedic began to touch her foot, asking her where it hurt and how much as the announcer tried to calm the restless audience. Jack stepped in front of her, shielding her from their gazes.

“It’s going to be okay,” Jack reassured her over his shoulder but his face was knit with concern.

Elsa tried to smile back, “I’ve gone through worse. Believe me.” She said, reaching for his hand.

He smiled a little and turned as a lady with a clipboard strode over. She wore a matching blue suit-jacket and pencil skirt and had a head-set microphone curling around her cheek. “Hi, I’m Aquata.” She said, extending a hand to Jack.

Jack took it and shook, “Are you the events coordinator?”

Aquata nodded in conformation and gestured to the three judges, “If you could bring your partner over to the stand we can announce your score and over-all performance. Can she stand?”

“I think so?” Elsa said, glancing at the paramedic who was wrapping her ankle in tension-bands. The paramedic nodded and secured the band.

Jack grasped her shoulders and helped her to her feet.

As they crossed the floor to the stand the audience members clapped and Elsa managed a weak smile and wave. The judges, an ominous group of women who looked strikingly similar to Aquata revealed solid eights all across. Elsa smiled, relieved by the score but also a little disappointed. If only she hadn’t slipped…She shook her head, clearing her mind of ‘what if’s.’ She knew there was no point to them.

“Well, I guess that’s that.” He said, but his voice was edged with disappointment. Sandy and Tatyana met them as they stepped off the stand and gave them a hug. “You were great!” Tatyana exclaimed, giving Elsa her signature smile of perfectly straight teeth.

“Thank you, I tried.”

Sandy nodded and smiled, his golden eyes reassuring her. He signed a few things to Tatyana and she nodded back, “He says he’s very proud of both of you for finishing the dance. We should go though, we have a few hours to drive home.”

Elsa smiled and Jack placed his arm around her shoulder. “Come on, it’s going to be okay.”

“We’re through for the season you know. I can’t dance on this ankle.” She mumbled.

“I know Elsa, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that didn't catch it, Aquata is one of Ariel's older sisters. Ariel and her family organize dance competitions are they all work in the industry. The judges were also Ariel's sisters.

**Author's Note:**

> Omg, I love Edna in this au. Also bonus fun fact: Jacks nickname "Frost" is actually short for Frosty the Snowman after a very funny sledding accident they had one winter!


End file.
